President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, says plans are on the way to reduce the price of liquefied petroleum gas, also known as cooking gas.
He also promised to start direct sales of the product to consumers should the existing distributors fail to allow the price crash in cooking gas.
However, operators in the sector have disagreed with the plan, saying the businessman was planning to monopolise the LPG sector. They kicked against the move on Monday, as the dealers expressed fear of a possible monopoly.
Dangote stressed that the current price of cooking gas is expensive and not affordable for the common people.
He disclosed that the refinery now produces 22,000 tonnes of LPG daily, and it is ramping up production for distribution into the Nigerian market, especially as Nigerians move towards the use of gas for cooking.
Speaking to members of the Lagos Business School CGEO Africa, at the refinery in Lekki, Dangote said, “The one that we didn’t write, which you must have seen, is LPG. Currently, we do LPG of about 22,000 tonnes per day. You know Nigeria is gradually moving to the usage of LPG. But I believe it is expensive, but right now we’re trying to bring down the price and make it cheaper.”
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Dangote warned that “if the distributors are not trying to bring it down, we’ll go directly and sell to the consumers, so that people will now transit from firewood or kerosene to LPG for cooking.”
Dangote plans to start the direct distribution of petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel to marketers nationwide in August, with 4,000 CNG-powered buses procured for the exercise.
Currently, the price of cooking hovers around N1,000 and N1,300 per kilogramme.
Meanwhile, operators in the LPG market are displeased with Dangote’s plan to disrupt the sector.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the former Chairman of the LPG and Natural Gas Downstream Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Godwin Okoduwa, described the plan as monopolistic.
Okoduwa expressed concern that the billionaire businessman should recognise the fact that some investors grew the market from 70,000 metric tonnes in 2007 to over 1 million metric tonnes in 2022, saying collaboration is the way to go.
“I think it’s monopolistic. I think a market should be protected to encourage growth. The LPG industry in Nigeria grew from 70,000 metric tonnes in 2007 to over 1.3 million tonnes in 2022. That was done by collaboration — collaboration with the Federal Government, the NLNG, and offtakers. Everything was done in collaboration. It grew from 70,000 to 250 to 800, and now over a million,” Okoduwa said.